May 14, 2018

Trump and the Lies That Lead to War 
By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon, III

NEWS ANALYSIS

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “In theory, the so-called 'Iran deal' was supposed to protect the United States and our allies from the lunacy of an Iranian nuclear bomb...In fact, the deal allowed Iran to continue enriching uranium and — over time — reach the brink of a nuclear breakout...” - President Donald Trump, “Speech on the Iran Nuclear Deal”, May 8, 2018.

On May 8^th President Trump announced he is withdrawing America from the Iran nuclear deal. His stated rationale for this action is illogical and fraught with inaccuracies and lies.

Just a little background, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or (JCPOA) or “Iran nuclear deal” was struck between Iran and six world powers - the US, UK, Russia, France, China, and Germany in 2015. It was the signature foreign policy achievement of Barack Obama's presidency. According to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell who interviewed Donald Trump on the day that it was signed, Trump was opposed to the deal as soon as he received word that President Obama had signed it.

His opposition to the Iran deal had nothing to do with its content. According to Andrea Mitchell, he (Trump) had not even seen the deal, let alone read its text before he expressed his opposition to it.

As stated above, Trump said during the speech, “In theory, the so-called “Iran deal” was supposed to protect the United States and our allies from the lunacy of an Iranian nuclear bomb…” Every respected intelligence apparatus, both US, UN and foreign stated that Iran is adhering to the conditions of the agreement. Even former CIA Director Mike Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “assessment when asked about it on April 12 during his confirmation hearing for secretary of state. "With the information I've been provided, I've seen no evidence that they are not in compliance today…"

Captain Nativ, the chief of an intelligence section in the “central command” of the Israeli army has stated, “We see a fundamental change in the nuclear challenge from Iran. In the next few years we understand that we don’t really have any threat from Iran because of the deal, I will say from this period to five years from now… So in the long run we can’t really say that it is a good deal or a bad deal. But we can say for the next few years, for the near future we won’t have any nuclear challenge, so for that, that’s is good.” This is a direct contradiction to the lies being spread by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

As part of his rational for backing out of the Iran deal, Trump said he has proof that Iran has lied, “…we have definitive proof that this Iranian promise was a lie. Last week, Israel published intelligence documents — long concealed by Iran — conclusively showing the Iranian regime and its history of pursuing nuclear weapons.”

According to NBC News, Netanyahu’s presentation on Iran’s defunct nuclear program was high on drama and short on current data. He claimed that tens of thousands of files prove there was an effort to build and test weapons; unfortunately, the presentation did not contain any big surprises for the U.S. intelligence community. There was nothing in the documents, which Netanyhu said were smuggled out of Tehran to change the American intelligence assessment that Iran is living up to its agreement and is not attempting to restart a nuclear weapons program. All of this was told to the Senate Intelligence Committee by American intelligence officials on Feb. 13, 2018.

Trump continued his fiction by stating, “Over the past few months, we have engaged extensively with our allies and partners around the world, including France, Germany, and the United Kingdom…We are unified in our understanding of the threat and in our conviction that Iran must never acquire a nuclear weapon.” This is a subtle misrepresentation of the facts.  Both French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Angela Merkel, visited Washington last month in last ditch efforts to get Trump to stay in the deal. Boris Johnson, the UK foreign secretary, has been in the US this week and appealed to Trump through an interview on Fox & Friends, telling Trump he is wrong.

Why would Trump site Israeli intelligence when his own intelligence agencies said months ago that Iran was in compliance with the agreement? Like his predecessor President George W. Bush did by creating the Office of Special Plans in the Pentagon, Trump is using bad data, misinformation, disinformation and/or lies to put America in the precarious position of backing Israel in a war with Iran for no rational reason. One of the links between Bush’s war in Iraq and Trump’s aggressiveness towards Iran is John Bolton. Bolton served as United States Ambassador to the United Nations from August 2005 to December 2006 under the Bush Administration and is currently Trump’s National Security Advisor.

Bolton was one of the signatories to the infamous PNAC letter to President Bill Clinton wherein Clinton was asked to overthrow Saddam Hussein. “The policy of “containment” of Saddam Hussein has been steadily eroding over the past several months…Our ability to ensure that Saddam Hussein is not producing weapons of mass destruction, therefore, has substantially diminished…The only acceptable strategy is one that eliminates the possibility that Iraq will be able to use or threaten to use weapons of mass destruction. In the near term, this means a willingness to undertake military action as diplomacy is clearly failing. In the long term, it means removing Saddam Hussein and his regime from power. That now needs to become the aim of American foreign policy.”

President Clinton did not fall for the 1998 lie. President George W. Bush fell for the 2003 lie, helped perpetuate it and invaded Iraq.

In December of 2017 President Trump made the unilateral decision to defy over 20 years of precedence from previous administrations, “…to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem or to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city.” Contradicting well established rationale and policy Trump “…determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. While previous presidents have made this a major campaign promise, they failed to deliver. Today, I am delivering.”

Campaign promises are made by candidates to express a desire to take the country in a particular direction. Once elected, presidents are usually swayed by daily security briefings, consultation with policy experts and meetings with allies. The Washington Post reports, even the simplest version of the presidential brief has proven too challenging. Now, Trump gets his briefing verbally. Trump said, “I’ve judged this course of action to be in the best interests of the United States of America and the pursuit of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.” First, how can he make such judgements when he does not understand the intricacies of the relationships and issues. Second, rarely do “campaign promises” unilaterally become US foreign policy.

Dr. Bandy Lee, assistant professor in forensic psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine believes, “The special counsel’s indictments started a crisis — a mental health crisis in a president who is not able to cope well with ordinary stresses such as basic criticism or unflattering news.” In her edited volume “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President” it was stated, “Trump is an “extreme present hedonist.” He may also be a sociopath, a malignant narcissist, borderline, on the bipolar spectrum, a hypomanic, suffering from delusional disorder, or cognitively impaired.”

Donald Trump has been unable to make the shift from campaign to governance and unilateral decision maker to leader of the free world. His ill-informed rants and decisions are moving this country closer and closer to the brink of international isolation and disaster. The fact that Trump nominated Mike Pompeo as secretary of state and appointed John Bolton as national security adviser — both Iran hawks — does not bode well for peace and stability. I think the US is being positioned to back Israel’s play and attack Iran.

We’ve seen this movie before, it was called Iraq and its sequel is called Libya.

Go to www.wilmerleon.com or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. www.twitter.com/drwleon and Dr. Leon’s Prescription at Facebook.com       © 2018 InfoWave Communications, LLC

May 15, 2018

State of Black America: While Old Struggles Continue, the New Fight for Justice is in the Digital Arena
By Hazel Trice Edney

NUL President/CEO Marc Morial

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Amidst this historic year of 2018 – marked by 50th anniversaries and landmarks of the civil rights movement – one thing remains clear:

“While a lot has changed for African Americans and other people of color in this country since 1968, many things have not. Even after the historic two-term election of the first African-American president of the United States, full racial equality remains a distant goal.”

Secondly, “Progress toward this goal must currently be pursued under the national leadership of a president whose rhetoric and actions have done more to fan the flames of racism and divisiveness rather than inspire greater equality.”

Those conclusions are among the sobering realities expressed by the Economic Policy Institute’s Dr. Valerie Rawlston Wilson, a guest essayist in the National Urban League’s 2018 State of Black America (SOBA) report.

Wilson continues “The Civil Rights Act of 1968, outlawing housing discrimination, was signed into law…And the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, better known as the Kerner Commission, delivered a bold and profound report to President Lyndon B. Johnson. After spending several months gathering data and directly witnessing conditions in urban America, the report concluded that ‘white racism’ was to blame for the ‘pervasive discrimination in employment, education and housing.’ These conditions, together with widespread mistreatment and abuse of Black citizens at the hands of the police, were cited as causes of poverty and civil unrest in segregated Black communities.”

Wilson, director of the Economic Policy Institute's Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy, gives a stark conclusion: “While a lot has changed for African Americans and other people of color in this country since 1968, many things have not.”

The 24-page Executive Summary of the hefty study, led by NUL President/CEO Marc Morial, goes on to release the data undergirding Wilson’s conclusion. Among the findings:

• Income disparities remain a distressing hallmark of our economy with African Americans earning a median household income of $38,555 compared to a white median household income of $63,155.
• Despite the painful saga of Black enslavement in America, the median household income of Hispanics – at and $46,882 - has well-surpassed that of African-Americans.
• People of color are persistently under or unemployed. Nationally, African Americans have the highest unemployment rate at 7.5 percent, followed by Hispanics at 5.1 percent.
• Despite employment gains, the African-American unemployment rate remains consistently double that of White Americans and consistently well above the national average.

The 2018 SOBA, titled “Save Our Cities: Powering the Digital Revolution,” zooms in on the technology industry, which it calls the “third revolution.” In a close look at African-Americans in technology, the report reveals a somewhat new category where African-Americans are woefully lacking, but where the potential is great.

The findings include:

• African-Americans have proven to be eager, early adopters of technology, leading influencers and content creators in social media—as evidenced by the power of “Black Twitter.” Yet, nearly one-third of low-income families with school-aged children have no access to broadband at home.
• Lacking this vital tool of broadband, many students are left with few realistic options to access the internet, leaving them digitally undeveloped and vulnerable to low earning outcomes.
• While Blacks and Hispanics are avid consumers of digital technology, they are grossly underrepresented in the digital workforce.
• Young, Black entrepreneurs tap into technology to solve everyday challenges—and become wealthy in the process. But the latest Equal Employment Opportunity reports filed by Google, Facebook and Twitter showed that out of a combined workforce of 41,000 employees, only 758, or 1.8 percent were Black. C-suite executives of tech firms publicly espouse the gospel of racial and gender diversity and inclusion, but these spaces do not reflect our nation’s demographic diversity.”
• In the majority of tech companies, fewer than five percent of the workforce is African American, while at least half of the workforce is White. The tech sector is a fast growing one in which people with high school degrees are averaging annual salaries in excess of $80,000. This represents an opportunity for advancing the workforce participation of women and people of color and reducing the income inequality gap.

Some of the most popular brands in the tech industry are among the worst offenders, Morial points out in his SOBA message, “From the President’s Desk”:

“The latest Equal Employment Opportunity reports filed by Google, Facebook and Twitter showed that out of a combined workforce of 41,000 employees, only 758, or 1.8 percent were Black. C-suite executives of tech firms publicly espouse the gospel of racial and gender diversity and inclusion, but these spaces do not reflect our nation’s demographic diversity. Only increased representation from top to bottom will drive corporate change that prioritizes equity,” Morial writes.

He compares the modern-day tech industry to the historic “great migration” during the industrial revolution, which was “highlighted by the rapid development of railroads, steel mills and advanced manufacturing.”

He said, “Despite the period’s economic opportunity, African Americans—once again—found themselves on the outside looking in. As the Great Migration relocated Blacks from the rural South to the North’s bustling cities with no housing, access to jobs and little more than the clothes on their backs, the National Urban League and its mission of economic empowerment was born.”

Morial continued, “Struggling to establish their place in the burgeoning economy, Black migrants encountered the exclusionary effect of racial segregation laws and codes in the North. To make matters worse, as the growing Black community began to establish a toehold into America’s robust industrial economy, manufacturers abandoned the cities for suburbs and shed jobs through automation, initiating the shift to today’s digital revolution.”

He concludes, “Fortunately, this third revolution is still in its youth—and ripe with potential for Black Americans.”

He says the NUL will continue championing equality by “taking our calls to action to the world wide web” and “streaming our priorities with ‘For the Movement’, a weekly podcast that discusses policy, civil rights and social issues relevant to African Americans and communities of color.”

He adds that NUL’s growing affiliate network “is plugged in, providing constituents with tech-oriented programming, workforce training and business incubation.”

He warns that the time is now to move for justice. “This ain’t your grandparents’ industrial-revolution-era civil rights organization. The stakes are high. If we do not strategically leverage this moment for the broader goals of justice, equity and economic opportunity for all, new technology will widen the cavernous opportunity gap still faced by African Americans and communities of color.”

May 14, 2018

Experts Say the Mentally Ill are Gun Violence Victims, Not Culprits
By Jasmine Hardy

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Howard University News Service

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - When the mother of a mentally ill man called 911 for help from her home in Dallas a few years ago, she did not expect him to be shot to death by police right in front of her. 

When she called in, she specifically requested officers with mental health training and told them her son, Jason Harrison, 39, was suffering from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. He needed to go to the hospital, she said. Her son’s erratic behavior was nothing new. She had called for help before.  So, when she opened her door, she casually informed them of her son’s current state.

“He’s just off the chain," she told the officers as her son ambled out the door just behind her.  “Incoherent, talking about chopping up people.” 

Harrison seemed calm.  He was twiddling with a screwdriver.  Immediately, the officers began shouting at Harrison to drop the screwdriver.  He didn’t.  Five seconds later, he was dead after being shot five times.  He lay dying in the driveway of the well-kept, middle-class home as officers continued to yell at him to drop the screw driver.

What happened to Harrison in 2014, even according to police, happens far too often when the mentally ill encounter police.  Additionally, it is a startling example of the relationship of mentally ill when it comes to guns and shooting. Despite statements by President Donald Trump and others regarding mentally ill Americans and guns, they are most likely the victims instead of the shooters, statistics show.

According to a study by the Treatment Advocacy Center, for example, at least half of the people shot and killed by police each year have mental health problems.  Research suggests that the rhetoric around mass shootings can support an invalid stereotype that people with mental illness are responsible. 

The mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where 17 people were murdered, is an example. While students and others focused on gun reform, President Trump’s initial reactions to the shooting were a commentary on the shooter’s mental health and the failure of school officials, friends, family and others who knew him to report him.

In a tweet sent out the day after the shooting, Trump said, “So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!”

Ironically, while Trump has recommended an improved mental healthcare system as a solution to this nation’s gun problem, he signed a bill last year that makes it easier for mentally ill people to purchase guns.  Additionally, his latest budget proposal would cut public funds for mental health treatment as well as cut funds for an educational department program that is supposed to support safer schools.   

The constant focus on a shooter’s mental stability in mass shooting creates a false image of mentally ill people, experts say. According to the American Mental Health Counselor’s Association, less than 5 percent of all violence in America is attributable to the mentally ill.  

Instead, mentally ill people are more likely to be victims of violence than to commit violence, researchers found.  A study in 2014 by researchers at North Carolina State University, RTI International, the University of California, Davis, Simon Fraser University and Duke University found through their study group of mentally ill individuals, only 2.6 percent of the violent acts they committed were in school or workplace settings. 

Instead, the researchers reported, 31 percent of the mentally ill individuals had been victims of violence in the same time period. Dr. Tanya Alim, a psychiatrist at Howard University Hospital and associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, said while some point to the mentally ill regarding gun violence, the nation is not providing the care the mentally ill need.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than half of adults with mental illness in the U.S. do not receive mental healthcare treatment. “We need better access to care,” Alim said.  “We need to decrease the stigmatization related to mental health treatment, and we need prevention, meaning helping children at an early age and identifying illnesses early on before things get out of hand.”

Dr. Harold Koplwicz, the founding president of the Child Mind Institute and one of the nation’s leading child and adolescent psychiatrists, said early care may have an impact on gun violence. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 75 percent of all psychiatric illness occurs before the age of 24 and 50 percent before the age of 14.

“If we change the system so that people are better able to recognize it, you can treat something a lot more effectively if it’s only a year old or two years old, than someone who gets psychiatric illness after 25 or 30 years like any of us,” Koplwicz told CBS News.Jeffrey Swanson, a professor of psychiatry at Duke University has done extensive research on guns and mental illness and argues the two subjects should be separate parts of the public debate. He was the lead author in a study that says Americans with severe anger issues are more likely to be the cause of shootings, not mentally ill people. 

“Gun violence and serious mental illness are two very important, but distinct public health issues that intersect only at their edges,” he said in a discussion of his study.Brian Hepburn, program director at the National Association of State Mental Health, agrees and says better mental health care is desperately needed, but it would have little effect on gun violence.“Gun violence statistics in general would not be impacted, because in general, there is not a relationship between gun violence and mental illness,” Hepburn said.  

Still, there is a link between mental illness and crime, if only because when the mentally ill do not proper treatment and medication, they commit acts that are deemed criminal and they are arrested and locked away. The National Alliance on Mental Health estimates that between 25 percent and 40 percent of mentally ill Americans will be jailed or incarcerated at some point in their lives.

The most glaring example is Cook County Jail in Chicago. Cook County is the largest single jail in the U.S, housing about 6,500 prisoners. According to the National Alliance on Mental Health, an estimated one in three of its inmates has a form of mental illness. Consequently, every morning, correctional officers hand out thousands of doses of anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medication and other anti-psychotics.

Those who have untreated mental illness and are not incarcerated run the risk of being shot and killed during any interaction with police. According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, people with untreated mental illness are 16 times more likely to be shot by police than other civilians. By comparison, African Americans are three times more likely to be shot by police.Family members of these victims call for better training of police officers to de-escalate potentially violent situations with mentally ill people.

In addition, experts say the traditional tactics officers use in these situations are the opposite of what they should be doing.For example, instead of yelling and encroaching on a mentally ill person’s space, they should speak calmly and give them space.One of the keys, law enforcement officials say, is Crisis Intervention Training, which trains officers in how to deal with the mentally ill and others during intense interactions. Only about 3,000 of the nation’s 18,000 police departments, however, have their officers go through Crisis Intervention Training, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.